Ravens’ Justin Tucker is one of the best kickers in NFL history, but the start of his 2024 season has been filled with uncharacteristic misses.
The all-time most accurate kicker, who has made 89.686 percent of his 446 career field goals, has the worst percentage in the league this season among kickers with more than two attempts (62.5 percent).
Tucker is 5-of-8 on field goals, missing one in all three games to open up the season, but he is confident he’ll return to form.
“It’s definitely fair to say that more recently, I’ve been working through a technique thing,” Tucker said via the team’s website. “That’s on me, as simply as I can put it. I know what I need to do to fix it.”
Half of the battle for kickers going through inconsistent stretches is remaining confident.
That’s why head coach John Harbaugh noted that he and the team are as confident as ever in Tucker on Monday.
“He’s got a technique thing going on,” Harbaugh stated. “He’ll work through it. He knows exactly what it is. He just needs to smooth it back out, and I’m very confident that he will.”
All of Tucker’s misses have something in common. They’ve all gone wide left — a 53-yarder against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 1, a 56-yarder against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 2 and a 46-yarder against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 3.
While Tucker feels bad about letting his team down, he believes one of his best characteristics is having a short-term memory.
“It’s a horrible feeling. But at the exact same time, you have to be able to lean into that feeling and recognize that it’s temporary,” Tucker added. “I think one of my greatest assets is my mind. I’m able to compartmentalize for the most part, move onto the next one and make the most of my next opportunity. ”
A Tucker miss was once so rare, and Baltimore would surely like it to return to being that way.
It’s up for debate why the most reliable kicker of the last decade has struggled to start the year, but he better turn things around soon if he hopes to keep that record and help save the 1-2 Ravens’ season.
“You have to be your own harshest critic if you want to take greatness from inside of you and put it on display for the world,” Tucker concluded. “That’s really how I think about it.”
